The present invention relates to a multi-phase motor, in particular, a stepping motor or a synchronized motor.
Such multi-phase motors are used in accentuating drives, particularly, for heating, ventilation or air conditioning valves, for the purpose of mixing warm air and cold air and to distribute air flows. Applications are known where more than ten such drives are to be housed in a comparatively compact devicexe2x80x94for example, an air conditioning system. The requirements for the structural space used, for the reliability and the permissible production costs are correspondingly high.
In known multi-phase motors of this kind, the stator coils are connected by means of connecting arrangements, that have several connecting points, with a plug part for electrical connection to a power supply source. In these connecting arrangements, there are, as a rule, three contact points per pole; in a connection with guide conducting plates, for example, one finds the following contact areas: plug pin/guide conducting plate, guide conducting plate/contact pin, and contact pin/winding wire. A multi-phase motor with a guide conducting plate arrangement, to provide connection between plug contacts and the winding wires of several coils, for example, is known, for example, from DE 19909227A1.
The connection in the individual contact areas is established by soldering, welding, clamping, spraying attachment, or other known techniques. Each of these connection techniques entails a failure risk and the establishment of several connections calls for a relatively great effort in terms of production engineering and is therefore costly. The existence of a plurality of separate parts in such a connection arrangement further increases the costs of making the motor.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved multi-phase motor of the type mentioned here which will be distinguished especially by reduced production costs and greater reliability.
The invention includes the essential idea that calls for reducing the number of connecting points or contact areas to the external connection of the coil wires (winding wires) of the stator parts. It furthermore includes the idea of achieving this reduction by connecting the winding wire essentially directly to the conductor that establishes the external connection, in particular, a plug pin or also a strip conductor of a printed circuit board. One therefore deliberately refrains from the usual provision of guide conducting plates with additional contact pins or connection elements.
Besides, the invention includes the idea of providing, by means of a suitable connecting piece, a mechanically stable connectionxe2x80x94that protects the connection section of the coil wirexe2x80x94between the actual coil body and the contact element that leads to the outside.
In a practical embodiment, the coils in each case have a coil carrier that is made either integrally with a particular connecting piece or that is connected with it at least so that it will not move. The connection can basically also be separablexe2x80x94for example, it can be executed as a plug connectionxe2x80x94but, it must in every case, ensure mechanical protection for the winding wire section located thereupon or therein.
In another preferred embodiment of a multi-phase motor with plug part for external power supply of the present invention, each connecting piece is made integrally with a pin strip that holds the particular plug pins or it is at least firmly connected with it. This connection also features the fact that is not necessarily inseparable but that, when the motor is in use, it must withstand mechanical stresses from the winding wire. In a particularly preferred manner, the coil carrier, the connecting piece, and the pin strip are made integrally with each other.
The connecting pieces as well as the coil carriers and pin strips consist of an electrically insulating material, in particular, a structural synthetic material that is customary in electrical engineering/electronics.
One can achieve a structure that is particularly simple to make and mechanically stable in the following manner: the coil carrier of one of the coils is made integrally with the pertinent connecting piece and a plug housing.
In an alternate, also easily made embodiment, one of the pin stripsxe2x80x94by means of a catch connectionxe2x80x94carries a separately made plug housing.
A simple production of the individual coil connection element sub-assemblies and their precise and, simultaneously, easy assembly is facilitated by a preferred embodiment wherexe2x80x94in the plug part or one of the plug pinsxe2x80x94there is firmly attached a first plurality of plug pins and where a second plurality of plug pins (which, in turn, is firmly affixed in a separate pin strip) is positioned in a separable manner. In otherwise, in the plug part or the first-mentioned pin strip, there are provided passage openings for the plug pins of the second pin strip and, in the latter, engage the plug pins of the second pin strip during assembly. As a rule, in such an arrangement, the second plug pins will not have the same length as the first ones; depending on the specific geometry of the motor structure, they will, in particular, be definitely longer than the latter.
The first and second plurality of plug pins is, in particular, arranged in a row. In a 3-phase motor, each row then comprises three plug pins.
According to the above, the coil or winding wires are essentially directly connected to the pertinent plug pins or strip conductors of a printed circuit board. That also includes the connection via an active or passive electrical structural member, in particular, a diode.
The electrical connection can be established in a substance-locking manner, in particular, by welding, soldering, or gluing with a conducting adhesive. In an alternate embodiment, this can involve a form-locking and/or force-locking connection that is formed, for instance by clamps.
The coil carriers preferably are in each case made in one part and have a slit-opening in which the coil body is retained particularly by an undercut or a catch connection.
In an embodiment with practical significance, the multiphase motor has two stator parts and, accordingly, two coils with corresponding connection pieces for the guidance or retention of the particular coil wire sections.
In a first preferred embodiment of the connection pieces, the latter have a wire duct, in otherwise, a long-drawn-out guide, in which the corresponding winding wire section is received.
In another embodiment, the connecting pieces are executed in the form of an insulation material core on which the particular winding wire section (essentially without enveloping sections) lies exposed on an outside surface.
The proposed multi-phase motor has a motor housing which is made integrallyxe2x80x94in a practical embodimentxe2x80x94with a plug housing.
The structure of the essential functional components of the motor is suchxe2x80x94that is to say, of the rotor and the stator parts, in particular, the stator coilsxe2x80x94is familiar to one of ordinary skill in the art and, for example, is consistent with the structure described in DE 199 09 227 A1.